Original Press Release

OFS and Furukawa Launch Raman Amplifier With Automatic Gain Control

Press release date: March 8, 2011

OFC/ NFOEC 2011, Booth 2019, Los Angeles, California, -Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., and the U.S. based OFS, Specialty Photonics Division today announced a Raman amplifier (HPU42000 Series) with a built-in automatic gain control (AGC) function. The Raman amplifier offers ease of system implementation and superior noise characteristics, which in combination with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) improves optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) as well as compensates for optical loss resulting from optical transmission lines and optical components. With the built-in AGC function, the output power per channel at each amplifier is kept constant by controlling the gain automatically, thus resulting in simplicity as well as better integration in transmission systems.
Background Furukawa is a global industry leader for 1480-nm pumping lasers, a key device of fiber-optic amplifiers. The company has registered several patents on Raman amplifiers in Japan and the U.S. Furukawa continues to innovate to bring cutting edge, high-quality products to market as an industry leader.
As ultra-high bit rate optical transmission of as high as 100 Gbps is progressively implemented in the future, the demand for Raman amplifiers with superior noise characteristics is expected to increase significantly, since Raman amplifiers in combination with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) can effectively improve OSNR, thus allowing longer reach and/or higher capacity optical networks. To fulfill market needs, Furukawa developed the Raman amplifier (HPU42000 Series) with a built-in AGC function.
The product is presently available on a commercial sample basis with production planned for 3rd Quarter 2011. Furukawa had also earlier commercialized the Raman EDFA, a single unit Raman amplifier and EDFA (ErFA40000 Series), in March 2010.
OFS and Furukawa will be featuring this device at OFC/NFOEC, Booth #2091 March 8th -10th.
About Furukawa Electric Company, Ltd. Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. (www.furukawa.co.jp/english) is an $11 billion global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of fiber optic products, network products, electronics components, power cables, nonferrous metals, and other advanced technology products. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Furukawa operates production facilities on five continents around the globe, including OFS and the OFS, Specialty Photonics Division, in the USA.
About OFS OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTX, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products. Our manufacturing and research divisions work together to provide innovative products and solutions that traverse many different applications as they link people and machines worldwide. Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods, and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components for efficient, cost-effective transmission.
OFS' corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and includes technology powerhouses such as AT&T (NYSE: T) and Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent, NYSE: ALU). Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications. Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta) Georgia, U.S., OFS is a global provider with facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia. For more information, please visit www.ofsoptics.com.